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		Hikes
		Hikes

Dufferin Quarry

Just the Facts about hiking at Dufferin Quarry:

			60 KM / 44 Mins


This is one hard to find hike we tell you! Here’s the scoop on the way to get there: Highway 401 to Milton , take the exit for Hwy 25 North. Drive along 25 until you get to 5^th Sideroad ( Campbellville Road ). Turn left at Campbellville Road and follow until 6^th line where you’ll make a right-hand turn and drive north. At one point (a km or so), you will come to a point where there is a rocky staircase jutting out of the small cliffs on the side on the road facing a golf course on the other side of the road. You are welcome to park for a small fee (we paid $3.50) or you can drive a ways up and find the very small parking area for hikers (typically full on nice weekends). We don’t recommend that you park just anywhere along the side of the road. We’ve seen people with tickets on their windshields! (click the google maps link above to get directions)

Dufferin Quarry bridge as seen from highway

Since my parents live in London and we’re out in Mississauga , I have lost count of the number of times that I have driven the stretch of the 401 that joins these two cities. Each time we would drive past the exit for Hwy 25, we’ d l ook off into the distance and see this little bridge with what looks like a little shack on one side and say “we gotta find out how to get up there!” A few hundred exclamations later, we finally set aside some time to check it out.

The entrance to the more direct route to the bridge is up a tiny, rocky set of stairs that juts out of the cliffs that hug 6^th Line (across the street is a golf course). For a more round-about route, you can hop on the Bruce Trail a few kilometers and hike around the area too. Fellow hikers have warned me about fences and such, so be prepared to hike around them or go through gates or holes! The trail section that we were on offered many rocky cliffs and caves to explore. Within a few metres of the beginning of the trail, Rob had already gone down into one of the little caves. Of course, without a flashlight, he was out at an early exit point

Since it had been raining the night before our visit, there was a fair bit of mud and so we braced ourselves for interesting shoe “adornment” by the end of our

hike.
The trail was quite beautiful and hugged the edge of the escarpment for the majority of the way. Eastern white cedar trees gripped the rocky edges and boulders would appear now and again. I have always been amazed by the cedar trees that seem to be clinging for dear life to rocks and edges. It’s a wonder that they are able to stay upright!

The trail to the bridge is winding and hilly, so be sure to have your hikers on! When we crested the last, long hill, we were happy (yet somewhat disappointed) to see the bridge. I am not sure how we could have expected a fancier bridge but I suppose the plain, heavy-steel and concrete bridge just wasn’t what we had hoped to find. That being said, given the fact that it overpasses the main road into the rock quarry, it suits its location!

Across the bridge, there is a nice seating area with an informative plaque that outlines the history of the quarry and surrounding area. In the middle of enormous mounds of stone, there is a giant building of sorts that I believe is key to the quarry’s process. It is also the top of this building that pokes out over the edge of the escarpment, making it look like a very small shack on TOP of the escarpment as you drive along the 401!

At the end of the afternoon, we arrived back at our car feeling satisfied that we had solved our little mystery.

Why not try Geocaching at Dufferin Quarry?

Official Geocaching Website

What's geocaching?

A Panorama of Dufferin Quarry taken from the bridge. The large square building in the center of the photo is the 'shack' like building you can see from the 401 (See page at top of page)

I must say, I would like to learn a lot more about Woodpeckers. They seem to be the little vandals for the forest. I'm surprised they don't kill more treees than they do.

Hikes

Dufferin Quarry